Virat butchers
Pak
Mirpur, March 18
Virat Kohli produced a blistering 183 off 148 balls as India notched up their highest run chase ever to register an incredible six-wicket victory.Virat Kohli plays a shot on way to his hundred against Pakistan in Mirpur on Sunday. India won the match by six wickets as Kohli hit 183, his 11th ODI ton.
— AFP

Button wins Australian Grand Prix
Melbourne, March 18
McLaren's Jenson Button won the Australian Grand Prix in a thrilling start to the season today as he held off two-time defending champion Sebastian Vettel in second place.

McLaren-Mercedes driver Jensen Button speeds to victory in Formula One's Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne on Sunday. Button led throughout the opening race of season on the 5.3km Albert Park road circuit. — AFP

Smashing Saina retains Swiss Open title
New Delhi, March 18
Saina Nehwal won her first title of the season when she retained the Swiss Open Grand Prix Gold trophy with a straight-game victory over China's Shixian Wang in the summit clash at Basel, Switzerland.

Saina Nehwal defeated Shixian Wang 21-19, 21-16.

Mumbai Indians’ camp from today
Mumbai, March 18
Last year’s runners-up and Champions League T20 winners Mumbai Indians commence their preparations for the upcoming fifth season of the Indian Premier League at their home ground, the Wankhede Stadium, on Monday.

Yuvraj discharged from hospital
New Delhi, March 18
Indian cricketer Yuvraj Singh was today discharged from hospital after completing the third and final cycle of chemotherapy to recover from a rare germ cell cancer in Boston, USA.

Barcelona players celebrates after scoring during their Spanish league match against Sevilla Fc in Sevilla on Saturday. barceloan won 2-0. — AFP

United thrash Wolves 5-0
London, March 18
Manchester United ruthlessly ripped apart 10-man Wolverhampton Wanderers to stroll to a 5-0 victory on Sunday and move four points clear at the top of the Premier League. The champions scored early through defender Jonny Evans, his first goal for the club, and the floodgates opened following the sending-off of Wolves defender Ronald Zubar before halftime.Wolverhampton Wanderers' David Davis (L) and Sebastien Bassong (R) challenge Manchester United's Wayne Rooney in Wolverhampton on Sunday. — Reuters

Isner stuns Djokovic, Federer hammers Nadal
Indian Wells, March 18
John Isner pulled off the biggest win of his career at the BNP Paribas Open on Saturday before Roger Federer outplayed long-time rival Rafa Nadal in the other semi-final. Big-serving American Isner overpowered world number one Novak Djokovic 7-6 3-6 7-6 and will face three-times champion Federer in Sunday's final, the Swiss having eased past Spaniard Nadal 6-3 6-4.

Roger Federer celebrates during his 6-4, 6-3 win over Rafael Nadal at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden in California on Saturday. — AFP

Torres bags brace as Chelsea win in FA Cup
London, March 18
Fernando Torres scored his first goal since October and added a late second to help Chelsea ease to a 5-2 win over second tier Leicester City in a one-sided FA Cup quarter-final on Sunday.

Muamba still critical
London, March 18
Bolton midfielder Fabrice Muamba remains in a critical condition in hospital after suffering a cardiac arrest during the Trotters' FA Cup tie with Tottenham on Saturday.The 23-year-old collapsed on the pitch at White Hart Lane, which was subsequently abandoned.

Bolton Wanderer's Fabrice Muamba is treated by medical staff after collapsing during the FA Cup quarter-final match against Tottenham Hotspur in London on Saturday. Muamba was taken to the hospital and the game was abandoned. — AFP

Virat butchers
PakRecord chase as India beat Pakistan by six wicketsAwait Sri Lanka-Bangladesh result for place in the finalKohli scores brilliant 183Rohit, Tendulkar get
half-centuries

MS Dhoni (R) tries to catch the ball as Pakistan’s Mohd Hafeez plays a shot during their crucial Asia Cup ODI at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Dhaka on Sunday.
India won the match by six wickets in what is their highest run chase in ODIs. — AFP

Mirpur, March 18
Virat Kohli produced a blistering 183 off 148 balls as India notched up their highest run chase ever to register an incredible six-wicket victory over arch rivals Pakistan and keep themselves afloat in the Asia Cup cricket tournament here today.

Chasing Pakistan's stiff 329 for six, the Indians rode on Kohli's breath-taking heroics to pull off a sensational victory with 13 balls to spare in a high-voltage contest at the jam-packed Sher-e-Bangla national stadium.

Apart from Kohli's career-best knock, his second century in the tournament, Rohit Sharma (68) and Sachin Tendulkar (52) were the other notable contributors as India eclipsed their highest successful run chase of 326 for eight against England at the Lords in the NatWest Cup final in 2002.

It was a stunning assault by the young Kolhi who smashed 22 boundaries and one six while Tendulkar also gave ample display of his vintage form during his knock. Rohit also marked his return to form with some glorious shots.

The outstanding batting display by the Indians completely overshadowed the centuries of the two Pakistan openers Nasir Jamshed (112) and Mohammad Hafeez (105) who stitched a record 224-run opening partnership. But their efforts went in vain.

India, whose Asia Cup campaign was thrown into disarray after their upset five-wicket defeat against minnows Bangladesh, will now have to await the result of the last league match between Sri Lanka and Bangladeshon Tuesday.

If Sri Lanka wins, India will go into the final but a Sri Lankan defeat will ensure that Bangladesh take on Pakistan in the final on March 22. As per the rules, if two teams are tied on points, head to head record will be considered, so Bangladesh will go into the final as they had beaten India in their league match.

Captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni hit Umar Gul to the boundary to bring about India's victory, triggering off scenes of celebrations in the dressing roo, The Indian run chase began on a disastrous note as Gautam Gambhir was dismissed in the very second ball of the innings with spinner Mohammad Hafeez getting the scalp.

Undeterred by the early setback, Tendulkar and Kohli unleashed a flurry of strokes to maintain a very good run rate.

With the burden of the 100th international ton off his shoulders, Tendulkar seemed to be in a more relaxed frame of mind and an upper cut six off Umar Gul brought back memories of his vintage days.

The pair brought about the 100-run partnership in 92 balls to keep India in the hunt while Kohli notched up his half century soon after by cutting Saeed Ajmal to the boundary.

In the next over off Wahab Riaz, Tendulkar posted his 96th ODI half century off just 45 balls.

Just when the partnership was assuming dangerous proportions, spinner Ajmal provided the vital breakthrough by evicting Tendulkar who seemed to be in sublime touch.

It was the 'doosra' which consumed Tendulkar as he went forward but only succeeded in edging the ball to Younis Khan at first slip. His knock of 52 came off 48 balls and contained five boundaries and a six.

Rohit Sharma, who joined the action after Tendulkar's dismissal, was a trifle tentative in the initial stages which brought down the scoring rate to some extent. But gradually he started playing his strokes.

Kohli brought about his 11th ODI century by taking a single off Hafeez, completing the ton of 97 balls and with the help of 11 boundaries.
— PTI

Melbourne, March 18
McLaren's Jenson Button won the Australian Grand Prix in a thrilling start to the season today as he held off two-time defending champion Sebastian Vettel in second place. The 32-year-old Englishman started second on the grid but took advantage of a slow getaway by his pole-sitting team-mate Lewis Hamilton to take the lead at the first corner, and then controlled the race all the way to the flag.

Hamilton, struggling for the pace he exhibited as he flew to pole on Saturday, finished third behind Red Bull's defending double world champion Sebastian Vettel, who climbed from sixth on the grid.

Vettel's recovery -- aided by a timely safety car intervention -- that he and his team are not to be taken lightly will be locked into what looks like a close championship battle with McLaren.

"That was beautiful, just a perfect start and it shows how good a winter can be," said Button. "A great start to the year for me and the team." It was the 2009 world champion's third win in four years at the Australian Grand Prix, and the 13th of his career. Local hero Australian Mark Webber came home fourth to deliver his best finish at his home race in the second Red Bull.

Two-time champion Fernando Alonso of Ferrari was fifth after a forceful race from 12th on the grid, following a disappointing qualifying performance on Saturday, ahead of Japanese Kamui Kobayahsi of Sauber.

The 2007 champion Finn Kimi Raikkonen, who started 18th on the grid, came home seventh for Lotus in his first race after a two-year absence in rallying, and Mexican Sergio Perez was eighth for Sauber.

Australia's second entrant Daniel Ricciardo finished in the points on his debut with the Toro Rosso team by taking ninth position in a dramatic finish ahead of Briton Paul Di Resta, 10th for the Force India team.

Seven-time champion Michael Schumacher of Germany was an early retirement in his Mercedes.

Di Resta earns
a point

Paul di Resta finished Australian Grand Prix in the 10th position as Sahara Force India opened the season with one point, although it was a disappointing start for rookie Nico Hulkenberg, whose race lasted less than a lap, here today. Hulkenberg, who had a good ninth position on the grid, was hit from the back in the opening lap, which damaged his suspension and led to early retirement. Resta, who started 15th, gained five places to finish in top-10 and start the season with a point.

"It's always nice to start the season with a point, but it was not looking too promising until the last few laps when my engineer told me that I was catching the cars ahead of me. Fortunately, I had saved quite a bit of KERS for the last corner, which helped me get a good run on Vergne and beat him to the line for tenth. So it was a pretty exciting final lap," the Scot said.

Resta was worried over the pace of the car.

"It's a good way to start the season, but it's clear we have a lot of work to do because we were struggling for pace at the start of each stint, which hurt my overall race pace," he said.

Hulkenberg said he was unlucky to miss out.

"I'm still not really sure what happened, but I got hit when I turned into the first corner on lap one. It's such a shame because I had made a great start, moved up a couple of positions and then I just felt somebody tap me from behind. There was a puncture and the suspension was damaged so my race was over and I had to park up," the German said.

McLaren's Jenson Button won the race from second position and his teammate Lewis Hamilton, who started from pole finished third. Defending champion Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull, who started sixth on the grid, had to be contend with the second position.
— PTI

New Delhi, March 18
Saina Nehwal won her first title of the season when she retained the Swiss Open Grand Prix Gold trophy with a straight-game victory over China's Shixian Wang in the summit clash at Basel, Switzerland.

The world number five Indian defeated Shixian, ranked third, 21-19, 21-16 in a 48-minute thrilling women's singles competition to defend her title.

Saina made a whirlwind start to the final, zooming to a healthy 11-3 lead in the first game. Shixian reeled off four straight points and slowly made her way to level the score at 17-all but the Indian made sure she had nose ahead in the end.

In the second game, Saina had an early 3-0 lead allowed the Chinese to claw her way back to 11-8 at the break. After the breather, the Indian gathered herself and caught up with Shixian at 13-13 and then registered four straight points from 15-all to eventually seal it comfortably.

The girl from Hyderabad, who turned 22 yesterday, Saina had beaten Japan's Minatsu Mitani in the semifinals last night.

The Indian ace had registered a 21-16 21-18 triumph over Mitani in 35 minutes to set up a summit clash with second seed Shixian. The Chinese beat eighth seed Inthanon Ratchanok of Thailand 21-17 21-15 in another women's singles match. —
PTI

Mumbai, March 18
Last year’s runners-up and Champions League T20 winners Mumbai Indians commence their preparations for the upcoming fifth season of the Indian Premier League at their home ground, the Wankhede Stadium, on Monday.

The first phase of the preparation-cum-conditioning camp will see Reliance Industries-owned IPL franchise's new recruits Rudra Pratap Singh and Pragyan Ojha train with the likes of Ambati Rayudu, Tirumalasetti Suman and Yuzvendra Singh Chahal along with some other new acquisitions — Apoorva Wankhede, Rahul Shukla and Jaydev Shah.

Rest of the team members, including skipper Sachin Tendulkar, who are presently on national and state team duties are likely to join the camp later, stated a media release issued by the franchise Other leading squad members are Harbhajan Singh, Lasith Malinga, Kieron Pollard, Rohit Sharma and Munaf Patel.
— PTI

Madrid, March 18
Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola watched Lionel Messi register his 150th league goal in the 2-0 victory over Sevilla, but admitted that even the little master can't win La Liga this season.

"Forget the league, we are not going to win," said Guardiola, whose bitter rivals Real Madrid can restore their 10-point cushion against Malaga today.

"If this team has anything then it is that it competes, but there has been another side which has been better and achieved better results than us and there is no need to smooth over the fact." Despite his black mood, Guardiola yesterday insisted that his team would keep going until the end.

"Players at Barcelona go out to win. We have a very difficult tie in the next round of the Champions League (against AC Milan) but we are not going to hold back in the league and rest players," he said.

A sublime chip from Messi brought up the Argentine's 150th league goal for Barcelona, and his 14th in the last six games, after a Xavi Hernandez free-kick had put the champions ahead after 18 minutes.

Guardiola put out his strongest side as Barca continued their pursuit of Real with the only surprise the absence of Carles Puyol from the defence with Javier Mascherano chosen to play alongside Gerard Pique at centre half.

Adriano started at left-back in place of Eric Abidal who will be out of the game indefinitely as he awaits a liver transplant. Adriano had a deflected shot which looped just over the crossbar and then Pedro Rodriguez, put through by Cesc Fabregas, had a strike parried by the keeper as the Catalan side pressed from the start.

Then Adriano was upended as he surged towards the area by Emir Spahic, who received a yellow card, and Xavi scored from the resultant free-kick. Goalkeeper Andres Palop got a hand to the ball but could not stop it as it curled into the corner. — AFP

London, March 18
Manchester United ruthlessly ripped apart 10-man Wolverhampton Wanderers to stroll to a 5-0 victory on Sunday and move four points clear at the top of the Premier League. The champions scored early through defender Jonny Evans, his first goal for the club, and the floodgates opened following the sending-off of Wolves defender Ronald Zubar before halftime.

Right winger Antonio Valencia netted the second and made the third for Danny Welbeck before the interval and striker Javier Hernandez struck twice from close range to seal United's win with 30 minutes left at Molineux.

The visitors made three substitutions but continued to dominate possession against their dispirited opponents who slipped to the bottom of the table on goal difference. United jumped further ahead of second-placed Manchester City who play their game in hand on their local rivals against Chelsea on Wednesday. Newcastle United host Norwich City later on Sunday.
— Reuters

Indian Wells, March 18
John Isner pulled off the biggest win of his career at the BNP Paribas Open on Saturday before Roger Federer outplayed long-time rival Rafa Nadal in the other semi-final. Big-serving American Isner overpowered world number one Novak Djokovic 7-6 3-6 7-6 and will face three-times champion Federer in Sunday's final, the Swiss having eased past Spaniard Nadal 6-3 6-4.

The second semi-final was delayed by three-and-a-half hours because of steady rain before Federer and Nadal came out for their heavily anticipated showdown, the Swiss dominating before sealing victory in one hour, 31 minutes. Serving for the match at 5-4 and 40-30, Federer was briefly held up by a light sprinkling of rain before he powered down a 125 mph ace, his sixth in all, to book his place in the final.

"I just had a good day," 16-times grand slam champion Federer said in a courtside interview after winning 38 of his 40 matches since last year's U.S. Open. "Another great match in tough conditions.

"We both expected rain in the match and it did rain a few times. I couldn't be more happy. I have played amazing against Rafa. He is a great champion." Watched by a near-capacity crowd in chilly conditions, third seed Federer broke twice winner Nadal in the second game of the match, ending a riveting exchange with an overhead forehand smash to lead 2-0.

However, the Spanish left-hander broke back in the fifth when the Swiss netted a forehand after the two players had treated the crowd to a sequence of absorbing rallies with superbly angled shots. Federer regained control by breaking second-seeded Nadal in the ninth when the Spaniard's backhand floated long and he served out to love in the 10th, clinching first set in 42 minutes with a forehand drop shot.

Oozing confidence and moving in typically elegant style, Federer again broke Nadal in the third game of the second after the Spaniard double-faulted to trail 0-40 before dumping a backhand into the net.
— Reuters

London, March 18
Fernando Torres scored his first goal since October and added a late second to help Chelsea ease to a 5-2 win over second tier Leicester City in a one-sided FA Cup quarter-final on Sunday.

The 50 million-pound ($79 million) Spanish striker scuffed a shot into the Leicester net after 67 minutes to send the Stamford Bridge crowd into raptures and he found the target again with a deft header five minutes from time.

Early goals by defender Gary Cahill and forward Salomon Kalou had put the home side in control and Raul Meireles netted Chelsea's fifth goal in stoppage time after Leicester claimed late consolations through Jermaine Beckford and a superb strike from Ben Marshall.

Liverpool host Stoke City in the last quarter-final later on Sunday. Everton drew 1-1 with Sunderland on Saturday and the game between Tottenham Hotspur and Bolton Wanderers was abandoned before halftime after Bolton midfielder Fabrice Muamba collapsed on the pitch. Muamba remained in a critical condition on Sunday. —
Reuters

London, March 18
Bolton midfielder Fabrice Muamba remains in a critical condition in hospital after suffering a cardiac arrest during the Trotters' FA Cup tie with Tottenham on Saturday.The 23-year-old collapsed on the pitch at White Hart Lane, which was subsequently abandoned.

Muamba was attended to on the pitch for several minutes by paramedics before being taken to London's Chest Hospital, where he is being treated in the intensive care unit of the Heart Attack Centre.
— Agencies